LPIC-1 Administrative Tasks Practice Question
Exhibit
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 100G 80G 20G 80% / /dev/sda2 200G 100G 100G 50% /home tmpfs 16G 1.2G 15G 8% /dev/shm
Refer to the exhibit. The root partition is at 80% usage. Which action would reduce usage the most?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many exam-takers choose option C (running 'du -sh /home') because they think identifying large files is the same as freeing space, but the question asks for an action that reduces usage, not just reports it.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Delete unused files in /tmp
The /tmp directory typically contains temporary files that can be safely deleted without affecting system operation. Since the root partition is at 80% usage, clearing out /tmp can reclaim significant space, especially on systems where applications or users have left large temporary files. The 'rm -rf /tmp/*' command or using tmpwatch/systemd-tmpfiles can free up space immediately.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Increase the size of /dev/sda1
Why it's wrong here
Requires free space in volume group; not directly reducing usage.
- ✓
Delete unused files in /tmp
Why this is correct
If /tmp is on root, this directly frees space.
- ✗
Run 'du -sh /home' to find large files
Why it's wrong here
This only finds files, does not reduce space.
- ✗
Move some files from /home to /
Why it's wrong here
This would increase usage on root.
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JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This LPIC-1 practice question is part of Courseiva's free LPI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the LPIC-1 exam.